Novel container design with built-in overrun meter

ABSTRACT

The present invention describes a novel packaging container with a dual purpose used in conjunction with ice cream and frozen dessert mixes that do not require the use of ice cream machines. The container acts as a primary or secondary packaging for the powdered mixes in its first role, and as a foam creation and whisking vessel that contains indicators critical to the proper operation of the mixes, such as target overrun run level and or whisking target indicators for various types of desserts made using the mixes. The Container may contain optional modifications, such as static mixers and homogenizers, that enhance the performance of the mixes and improve the stability and quality of the finished product. The container can be made from a variety of materials in a variety of shapes.

Ice cream and related frozen dairy and non-dairy desserts are a majorfood industry with estimated annual sales approaching 66 billion USDannually. Ice cream is thought to have originated in the time of theancient Romans. There have been recorded histories of Emperor Neroordering ice to be brought down from the mountains and then mixed withfruits or honey and consumed as a refreshing dessert. Modern ice creamand similar frozen desserts are reported to have first originated inArabia or Persia, where craftsmen would mix cream with sugar, yogurt androse water then chill the resulting mix by adding it to ice.

The Chinese are credited with inventing the first systematic methods toproduce where they would add the ingredients into metal pots and placethe pots in a mixture of ice and salt which depresses the freezing pointof the ice and causes the sweetened mixture inside to freeze more solid.

The first patent for the modern mechanized machine for making ice creamwas granted to Nancy Johnson of Philadelphia in 1843. Mrs. Johnson'shand-cranked machine utilized the same principles being used today forhome and commercial ice cream manufacturing.

Ice Cream is a foam and a solution and a colloidal suspension all atonce. It is basically a foam where the air bubbles are suspended in asolution containing the sweetener and where the walls of the air bubblesare surrounded by fat particles and protein particles which actsimultaneously as an emulsifier and a separator between fat particles atthe surface of the air bubbles.

In Modern ice cream making where a machine is used there are severalsteps used including:

-   -   1. Mixing dry ingredients with liquid ingredients (most commonly        milk and Cream)    -   2. Pre-heating    -   3. Homogenization    -   4. Pasteurization    -   5. Cooling    -   6. Storage (Aging)    -   7. Crystallization (Where Aeration takes place and may involve        pressurized air injection)    -   8. Further cooling    -   9. Packaging    -   10. Hardening    -   11. Storage and distribution

This is the general industrial and commercial process. Home ice creammaking will usually exclude steps 3,4,8, 9 and 11. In home ice creammaking the dry ingredients are mixed with the liquid ingredients (can beheated and aged at this stage) and are added as a solution to an icecream machine containing a refrigerated drum with a central mixingshaft. As the mixing shaft and/or the drum rotate, the solution beingsto freeze (crystallization) due to contact with the internal walls ofthe refrigerated drum. As the solution rotates and freezes, the mixingshaft scrapes the mixture from the walls and blends back into the centerthus entrapping air.

The entrapped air is critical to the properties and qualities of icecream and associated and similar frozen desserts. the entrapped airgives the ice cream body, firmness and lightness all at once. withoutair, ice cream and associated frozen desserts would be very dense andvery hard (similar to frozen milk) or would require large amounts of fatto maintain their malleability which increases their denseness; thiswill also affect the nutritional profile of the finished produce perserving. The amount of air in ice cream and associated frozen dessertsin measured in % Overrun. % Overrun is generally defined as follows:

% Overrun=(Vol. of ice cream−Vol. of liquid mixture)/Vol. of Liquidmixture×100%

Due to the dramatic impact of overrun on ice cream, its measurement isimportant. In industrial operations, overrun is quantified eitherautomatically or through volumetric QA measurements using lab equipment.

By their nature, modern ice cream making systems are energy intensiveand cumbersome, necessitating large amounts of energy to handle andprepare the ingredients and then more energy in the ice cream machinesas these machines try to rapidly and controllably freeze the solutionwhile aerating it before the fat can fully coalesce. Because of thisnature and the need to store and prep the ingredients in steps suchhomogenization, ice cream factories usually will occupy large physicalfootprints and require significant capital investment which in turnlimits entry into the market and inhibits innovation.

The energy consumption associated with ice cream, and related frozendairy desserts, comes with a heavy environmental impact in terms ofpollution. The need to maintain the product in frozen conditionthroughout its distribution and sales cycle and the use of oftennon-recyclable containers further adds to environmental impact.

By contrast, home ice cream making machines require relatively lessenergy overall, require less footprint and have less impact on theenvironment; they do however produce lower stability products, at lowerrates, with significantly less overrun, producing much smallerquantities per unit of time. They also tend to be messy and cumbersomewhich limits their use as an alternatives to industrial Ice cream.

This has led to the rise of the no-machine-required mixes; Byconceptually deconstructing ice cream, stabilizing the components andreincorporating into stable, easily manipulated products, this class ofice cream and frozen dessert mixes seeks to present an alternativemethod to produce and distribute ice cream and related frozen dessertsthat would be dramatically cheaper and have a significantly lowerenvironmental impact. In these products, the ice cream process isreconfigured, with a semi-stable foam being created as a first step frommixing dry and liquid ingredients. the Foam requires a target amount ofair to be incorporated into it to be stable and prevent fat globulesfrom coming so close together as to form an oily mouth feel. This targetvaries based on the composition of the liquid used in preparation and isinversely proportional to amount of fat in the liquid; higher fatliquids will require and be able to hold less air while lower fatproducts will require more and be able to hold more air to be stable.This foam is then frozen using available freezing equipment, the foamscreated are designed to be stable to the slow freezing rates of homefreezers.

Because these products rely so heavily on reaching a target overrun, andbecause they are primarily targeted at home users who are not technicalexperts, a simple method to determine target overrun is required. Thisinvention entails a packaging container that acts as a primary orsecondary packaging for these no-machine-needed mixes. The powderedno-machine-needed frozen dessert and ice cream mixes are packaged,distributed and sold inside these containers. The container is markedwith indicator levels that show the target expansion (overrun) levelsfor the various types of liquid used in combination with the mixes. theuser adds liquid to the container to a marked level, they then add thepowder mix to the liquid. An aerating device such as a whisk or beaters(manual or automated) is inserted into the container and the mixture isaerated till the mixture reaches the marked overrun target for theliquid used. After the Target overrun is reached, the aerating device isremoved and the resulting foam is frozen.

The Container can have static mixers and/or homogenizers built into thewalls of the container to speed up the whisking process and improve thequality of the final product.

Materials used in making the container include but are not limited to:

-   Paper-   Cardboard-   Plastic-   Metal-   Carbon fiber-   Glass-   Polymers-   Wood    Shapes of the container include but are not limited to:-   Cylinder-   Circular cylinder-   Oval cylinder-   Elliptical cylinder-   Elliptical frustum-   Elliptical conical frustum-   Frustum-   Conical Frustum-   Pyramidal Frustum-   Cube-   Square cube-   Rectangular cube-   Hemisphere-   Semi sphere-   Spherical segment-   Spherical cap-   Tubular

Without further elaboration, it is believed that one skilled in the artcan, using the preceding description, utilize the present invention toits fullest extent. The preceding preferred specific embodiments are,therefore, to be construed as merely illustrative, and not limitative ofthe remainder of the disclosure in any way whatsoever.

The entire disclosures of all applications, patents and publications,cited herein and of corresponding U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.62/054,392, filed Sep. 24, 2014, are incorporated by reference herein.

From the foregoing description, one skilled in the art can easilyascertain the essential characteristics of this invention and, withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope thereof, can make various changesand modifications of the invention to adapt it to various usages andconditions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

FIG. 1 represents the container of the invention.

FIG. 2 represents the cross section of package with divider

FIG. 3 represents the package cross section without divider andcontaining static mixers and homogenizers

1. A packaging container for use as a packaging and whisking vessel forno-machine-needed ice cream and frozen dairy and non-dairy dessertswherein the container includes: a plurality of markers indicating atarget overrun and whisking targets for a plurality of types of liquidused with no-machine-needed mixes.
 2. The packaging container for use asa packaging and whisking vessel for no-machine-needed ice cream andfrozen dairy and non-dairy desserts of claim 1, wherein the containerhas smooth sides and a flat bottom.
 3. A packaging container for use asa packaging and whisking vessel for no-machine-needed ice cream andfrozen dairy and non-dairy desserts wherein the container includes: sidewalls; a bottom; and protrusions or indentations on the side walls orthe bottom of the container, the protrusions or indentations configuredto: help facilitate mixing, act as static mixers or act as statichomogenizers, or reduce globule/droplet size.
 4. The packaging containerof claim 1, wherein the container includes a lid.
 5. The packagingcontainer of claim 1, wherein the container includes a covering orclosure.
 6. The packaging container of claim 5, wherein the covering orthe closure is attached to the container.
 7. The packaging container ofclaim 5, wherein the covering or the closure is detachable from thecontainer.
 8. The packaging container of claim 3, wherein theprotrusions or indentations have at least one of the following shapes:straight, perforated straight, angled, irregular-shaped, wavy,hill-shaped, perforated hill-shaped, ring-shaped, multi-ring shaped,pumps, or needle.
 9. The packaging container of claim 3, wherein theprotrusions or indentations extend along the side walls.
 10. Thepackaging container of claim 3, wherein the protrusions or indentationsextend along the bottom.
 11. A packaging container for use as apackaging and whisking vessel for no-machine-needed ice cream and frozendairy and non-dairy desserts, the container comprising: side walls; abottom; a plurality of markers indicating a target overrun and whiskingtargets for types of liquid used with no-machine-needed mixes; andprotrusions or indentations on the side walls or the bottom of thecontainer, the protrusions or indentations configured to help facilitatemixing, act as static mixers or act as static homogenizers, or reduceglobule/droplet size.